Which version of Linux do you use?

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Which is your Linux distribution of choice?

5624 votes tallied

Mint

621 votes

Fedora

613 votes

Debian

759 votes

Ubuntu

1116 votes

Mageia

69 votes

openSUSE

788 votes

PCLinuxOS

364 votes

SparkyLinux

17 votes

elementary

214 votes

Arch

1063 votes

We did this poll over a year ago and felt it was time once again to ask our readers: Which Linux distro do you use? And, once again, we pulled our list of choices from DistroWatch.com's page hit rankings. These are the top 10 Linux distributions over the last month.

The DistroWatch Page Hit Ranking statistics are a light-hearted way of measuring the popularity of Linux distributions and other free operating systems among the visitors of this website. They correlate neither to usage nor to quality and should not be used to measure the market share of distributions. They simply show the number of times a distribution page on DistroWatch.com was accessed each day, nothing more.

A lot of you may use many different versions of Linux on a regular basis. Or, maybe you don't see your choice here. Vote for the one you use the most or the one from this list that is your favorite.

Start a conversation below about your Linux distribution of choice. Tell us what you use it for and why.

I have to go with the one that has lasted the longest in the family which is Ubuntu on the family desktop.

Otherwise, I keep switching up on my personal laptop and other computers. I've had Ubuntu on it until 12.04 because it is one of the unlucky ones that the PAE enabled Ubuntu kernel does not run on it (not that it was really slow anyway). Pretty much I go between Fedora and openSUSE.

My daughter, who isn't very interested in computers, tells me she prefers Linux!

The other kids prefer Linux and have been using it since they started using the computer. The only reason Windows is used is for a game that we haven't gotten to work under Wine (it's supposed to but installation is tricky and I haven't succeeded yet).

Now, if it were multiple choice I would pick (not in any particular order):
> Fedora
> openSUSE
> Ubuntu / Kubuntu / Xubuntu
> Raspian or Pidora (just got a Raspberry Pi over the holidays)

I love this question, and am curious not just which distribution folks choose, but why? I think of myself as a distribution-agnostic person who simply chooses the best tool for the job (or when in doubt, the one I'm most familiar with). Fedora has become my go-to distribution when I'm working on a new system, because it frequently "just works" in a way I like without making a lot of changes. What makes your favorite distribution the right tool for your workflow?

I'm on Red Hat Enterprise Linux at work, Fedora 19 (now that 20 is out, it's upgrade time) on my main home computer, and have two Debian-based servers I work on regularly. If we stretch the definition of "distribution" to include Linux-based devices, I'm also running my router on DD-WRT, my NAS (Buffalo) and Roku (an old one) on the original manufacturers' custom Linux distributions, and at least three handheld devices on Android variants. It's exciting to have watched the evolution of Linux, from something that felt like it gave me definite geek cred when I installed my first distribution (Slackware, I believe) in the late 90s, to something that I watch my friends and family use now without even knowing that they're using it!

I picked Ubuntu for the family desktop because I wanted something easy to set up, easy to maintain and the breadth of applications. I needed something that I could set up and leave alone.

I tried Ubuntu on my laptop for consistency but it won't play anymore on it (9-10 yr old IBM, pre-Lenovo, Thinkpad T40) because of the PAE component of the kernel so I moved to between Fedora and openSUSE.

OpenSUSE has interested me a few times because the OBS and I figured if I am setting up a server it shouldn't hurt to be familiar with the desktop aspect too.

Fedora has become my fall-back system (if all else fails...) because largely "it just works" on my laptop out-of-the-box. While Fedora works wonderfully technically, it takes a bit more tweaking to get it "just right".

Once I get my HDMI to VGA adapter, then I'll start messing around with the Raspberry Pi I got for Christmas. I plan on starting out with Raspian because that is the more common distro an I am going to be just starting to learn. If I knew Fedora better then Pidora would be a logical choice, so I won't discount it as a future endeavor.

I prefer sticking with more mainstream distributions because while I can tinker to make the system the way I like it, I too often get distracted with a new "shiny" version or distribution and have to start tweaking all over again! :)

Someday I'll probably have an Android device to go along with my Chromebook (Cr48).

I like Mint and KDE! I have used Linux since Red Hat 3.x with a huge pile of 3-1/2" floppy disks (like OS2). I have many old distros on removable 20 Gb hard drives. I used to work with Sun Solaris so Linux fit right in after I retired. Clem's attitude seems to fit with mine. I like what he has done and where he seems to be going. But most of all I like what I see wth Linux overall. It is really a sucsessful OS overall.

I selected Debian even though I actually use Mepis. I figure it's just Debian wrapped in a convenient package. I've been using Mepis for about ten years (that's right, back when Mepis was at the top of Distrowatch,) but I've tried many, many other distributions, installing the most interesting of them on my computers. I always have one or two installations set up as fallbacks in case something happens to my primary install (never has.) I would be nervous if I had only one OS on my computer.

I use Debian GNU/Linux with a custom kernel and a heavily customized StumpWM on all of my machines.

I distro-hop quite a bit, but I always seem to end up back on Debian Sid. Mostly I keep coming back to Debian because I understand how it works, and I know the place/way to configure every little thing that I like configuring. I use a custom kernel because I like to muck around in the nitty-gritty and see what I can improve on my main machine (really old hardware with quite a few hardware modifications). I use StumpWM because I like the minimalism and the Emacs-like keybindings. Plus, being written in clisp, I can modify it in real-time to suit my needs at that very second.

I mostly use Arch now, but miss (and sometimes use) Gentoo not just to compile it for the machine (now less of an advantage than it once was), but to configure in/out features of the packages. I have tried, and used several, and regularly use Ubuntu on my Dell laptop as that came installed and works well. The more conservative binary release distros can be much simpler for certain things, but often end up going with rolling release for the fresh packages (compilers, libraries, etc). I used to run Red Hat and Debian a lot, but found I compiled so much into /usr/local I was maintaining a mini-distro there - hence the move to Gentoo in the first place ;-)

I thought about answering that way too. But then I re-read the poll which reads "Which is your Linux distribution of choice?" not "Which is your kernel of choice?".

In keeping with smart-a** comments to an innocuous poll, I was sad to see the various distros referred to as "Linux Distros" and not "GNU/Linux Distros" or "GNU/kFreeBSD Distros." Those may be very fine (and maybe esoteric) distinctions, but I think that they are meaningful distinctions.

I believe that has become an inconvenient truth to the Linux Community. From my point of view you need to use the one people had a choice in. Other than that Linux owns the landscape as the power behind "The Internet of Things."

Raspbian may be the "recommended" for the Raspberry Pi but as most Linux users know, there are choices, and there is nothing wrong with going with the non-recommended or non-default (like using Fedora & KDE, or openSUSE & Xfce).

I think the XBMC-focused OpenELEC and RaspBMC are probably the next most popular. Don't forget there is also Pidora (Fedora) and Arch available. And these are just the ones included in NOOBS. I think openSUSE also has a version even though it isn't included in NOOBS.

I personally like Fedora in many ways - especially the fact that the repos have most of the software I like to use.
Been using Korora since 18 now and I really like the customization and extra repos allready setup.
Must be getting a litttle lazy :-D

Using an AMD A8 APU (Llano) low-cost system here. Worked really hard to compare many of the "big" distros over Christmas so I can forget about hopping around for a while.

I preferred openSUSE over PCLinuxOS mainly due to the artwork. In order to get that distro to look professional. It runs great after running XFdrake right after installation, but the artwork... well, matter of taste. PCLOS Full Monty is a great distro, BTW.

So here I am after Mint, Sabayon, Chakra, Fedora and many others.. running an Ubuntu spin called Diamond IIB_64. sort of like Ultimate Edition without the childish graphics. Never thought I'd run Unity, but after all the others I really, really like it.

DiamondIIB is a kitchen sink distro, so there was little work for me to do. ONE CAUTION: I am holding off installing the proprietary driver for my graphics (fgrlx). I'd rather have stability for a while until AMD gets its poop in a group.

My distribution of choice is siduction (Debian Sid) with KDE SC, the most reliable distribution I've ever used - so I voted for Debian as a whole. I don't want to use any other package management than the Debian one anymore, KDE SC is my favorite desktop environment, and I want to use a rolling distribution.

On older hardware I use antiX (Debian Testing).

Mint is ok as a lot of multimedia things are preinstalled and it is nicely preconfigured, but its installation really is slow and its KDE SC flavor also is slower than other KDE SC distributions and the bugs seem to be more striking.

Mandriva uses a very well configured KDE SC desktop but I don't like RPM anymore and it is not rolling.

'PCLinuxOS' has been my only since 2010. I will occasionally try on another to see what I'm missing, only to find the answer is, "Not much." When gnome 2.3x went away, a little patience brought me MATE and now Cinnamon. The rep is a little small, but I'm not missing anything that a simple source install can't bring. Texstar has made a great distribution and the community around him provides awesome support. I walked away from winxp, and have missed nothing except the aggravation and the limitations. Others have their faves and I say, "Rock on, brothers and sisters." (^_*)

I had problems upgrading with PCLinuxOS from version to version and eventually reached oblivion. I probably missed something vital in the upgrade process but don't know what. Upgrading without due care can cause broken apps on any distro. Even with due care there may be "end of road" scenarios. That is why for day to day working I stay to LTS versions, often beyond their sell by date. I agree that this is not much to be missed by not upgrading, but there is much to be lost otherwise. Evolution is still a slow process, especially with architecture and form metamorphosis ( desktop, tablet, phone...)

Day to day I use Mint LTS versions 9 (32bit) and 13 (64bit). Both have provided what I need ( Web, Mail, Skype, DVB TV, IP Webcam, Music, Games, Python, Fortran, C, Terminal, SSH, NFS, smb, nmb, dnsmasq, Gnome 2, Mate, Cinnamon, lately KDE, NVIDIA drivers ['tho nouveau getting better] Open/Libreoffice etc....); I try many other distros that are bootable and installable via GRUB2 entries from hard drive ISOs...Debian, Fedora, Aptosid, Siduction, Kubuntu.. What surprises me is the high quality of most of the distros. For me the CD/DVD is more or less obsolete and I manage with the use of a USB portable when needed.

A lot of discussion is about what distro we use. But does it really matter? Basically 'yum' and 'apt', RPM and deb share not only three character names but also a lot of alike commands.

The distro-discussion can be confusing for newcomers. Even the 'car analogy' hardly solves this. The question is where the real diference lies, especially for newcomers. And there is a huge potential newbies with XP ending and Linux as a worthy alternative for existing hardware. And as a by-effect Linux helps to reduce e-waste.

For me the essence in 'What Linux do you use' is in the Desktop Environment. Is it graphical eye candy with Gnome3, Cinnamon, Enlightenment or KDE, the basic XFCE or LXDE, or geekier Openbox, awesome or Ratpoison -- the list is far from complete. Excuse me mixing up environments and window managers, but in my line of discussion here the difference is unimportant.

Now the average newcomer is a strange being. They easily switched from an XP desktop to Apple, iOS or Android, but are afraid to leave their windows. 'In Linux you have to master typed commands' is often heared. Yes you can use Linux from the shell, but there is a lot more to choose from! Most Linuxes have a basic graphical installer and the most important choice a newcomer has to make is which Desktop Environment she/he wants to use. Should it be XP-ish to start with or do you dare to try something of Today's Future like KDE Plasma. Wait! Why not try both on the same computer and switch between sessions! With Linux you can! Even on a five year old box.

All user experience lies in the Desktop Environment and not so much in RPM/deb differences. And that also is true for hard core Linuxers...

Count me as another PCLinuxOS user. Three of four boxen at my house agree (the fourth is my daughter, who's still using XP, but now that Steam has come to Linux, maybe there's hope of converting her to Linux this year...)

Why? The motto "radically simple" says it all. I was looking for a desktop-oriented distribution which didn't enable everything and the kitchen sink by default (Iike another distro I could name), and which met the everyday needs for my most demanding customer -- my wife! All this on second or third generation hardware so it doesn't break the budget.

Choice is a wonderful thing! Those of you happy with other distros probably have different needs and motivations. Let's all be friends here.

I used to switch distros a lot, and since running '[GNU/Linux|Linux|*X]' as my only OS, I never felt like having two distros on a single machine. (Maybe that's the reason I've been switching them so often) However, now I use Debian, and rather than focusing on the perfect usability (which has always been the best, no matter what distro I would use), I am focused on tweaking its security. And I finally pleased my hobbyist appetite.

After "distro-hopping" for over a year and trying several distros, including the big names, I settled into PCLinuxOS. This is a grand distro, clean and wonderfully supported with a great community forum and on-line magazine.
Try it...you'll like it!!!

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